JFK-1

Norwich is a city with over 200,000 inhabitants and an average attendance at home games of 26K and have just come down from the premiership with a parachute payment of £40 million for this season. On that front alone Norwich eclipse anything in Scotland far less little Preston. Preston is a city of around 120,000 while North End have an average home gate of around 12,000 and are just promoted from league one in the past two seasons. The difference between them and Norwich is night and day on the parachute payments front alone which will amount to another £33 million next season if they were still in the Championship. It's David v Goliath between Preston and Norwich and and David lost his slingshot. Preston sold us Garner because they need that money and they need it badly enough to take it in installments. Garner was on top wages at Preston which for him was around 5K a week and i'm more than confident the Norwich players are on a lot more than that.

Think the most impressive win of the day in the Championship was Preston away at title challengers Norwich. First home defeat for Norwich this season. Six wins, one draw against fellow promotion candidates Sheffield Wednesday, now one defeat.

Make a curry with that green egg laying fowl.

Liverpool win to go equal top on points with Arsenal or at least until tomorrow when City play. Man Utd sitting comfortably outside the top 4 and even if they beat Chelsea tomorrow will still be outside it. Probably not what the Utd fans expected from 'the special one' after a world record spend on a single player. Might be notable that the only top 4 side City have played so far were Totenham and they lost that by 2-0 while the only other collision so far between the current top 4 was Arsenal v Liverpool which Liverpool won by 4-3 on Arsenals patch. Unless Utd really start clicking which they have shown no signs of doing there is a distinct possibility they will finish outside the top 4 again. Still early days but you start to get the feeling that Liverpool will be in that top 4 when the dust finally settles along with City and Arsenal. Final spot a scrap between Totenham, Chelsea, and Utd.

Average attendance 794. They probably all know each other and have shared a pan.

Yeah amounts to obsessive doesn't it. I'm sure many clubs passed on their condolences but they're not all being listed are they?

HAMBURG supporters have paid a touching tribute to a Rangers fan killed in a devastating bus crash as he travelled to Ibrox watch his team. Ryan Baird was in the supporters coach that toppled on the A76, near Crossroads roundabout in Ayrshire, earlier this month. The 39-year-old, originally from Larne in Northern Ireland but living in Dumfries and Galloway, died as a result of his injuries. And last night, Hamburg fans displayed a banner with “RIP Ryan” written on it during the German side’s home clash with Eintracht. Rangers boss Mark Warburton travelled to Northern Ireland to attend Mr Baird’s funeral . Following the crash, both Celtic and Rangers issued statements passing on their condolences to Mr Baird's family and senior officials at the Ibrox club later met members of the supporters club and players visited crash victims in hospital. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-fan-killed-in-bus-9103093

Know a guy who follows Tamworth which is extreme lower league.

The injuries have been cropping up on a regular basis all through team and regarding the defence I think the only regular starter in the back four who hasn't missed out due to injury is Tavernier. We started the season with what we thought was a midfield army now just as Kranjcar appeared to be gaining fitness out he goes. And that's aside from also losing Barton who looks as if he may never play for us again and despite the complaints/doubts about him now we may never know if he too would have come good as he gained fitness just as Kranjcar has done.

Fast becoming an annus horriblis on the injury front which began on day one with the injury to Waghorn.

I don't see the manager starting any regular second choices in this simply because they played in earlier rounds against lower league opposition. Consider the barracking he would be in for if that backfired and another heavy defeat ensued. Yes it's all about a squad but when taking everything including recent events into consideration this really could be a key match beyond the fact of it being a semi final and a chance to reach the final of a national cup competition.

Do you ever get the feeling that Rossiter may always be picking up injuries? I think he had been out for months at Liverpool before he came to us and has now spent the bulk of his time with us injured. Not a good sign in one so young.

I don't think anyone is suggesting we're a great outfit at this stage what they're saying is that they aren't so great either and certainly nowhere near as good as they like to think they are. Last night was simply an example of that. We can take them if we play to our capabilities. They went to Caley and came away with a draw conceding two goals in the process. We went there and came away with a win and a clean sheet. Aside from anything else we're due nay overdue a bit of just average luck.

Fine margins, the withdrawal of Kiernan to be replaced by Forrester then just 3 minutes later the other CB being red carded finished us. At that point it was actually 3-1 but we were gaining momentum until Senderos did his thing. As you say on the day we just didn't turn up then going down to 10 men with no CB's ended any possible turnaround. That wont be happening again though if Garner plays you sometimes get the feeling he is always a red card waiting to happen.

And the game against a Man City who have hit a sticky patch and who have registered a defeat and a draw in their last two league matches and that game is why Keith Jackson aka Rodgers fanboy is getting all bent out of shape about last night. He seriously thoght that on the basis of a draw at home while conceding 3 goals they had become Euro giants. Watch this video which is from the day after the Man City game where you will see Jackson drooling over it while deciding that beating Gladbach was now a gimme to see why he's so miffed. And keep in mind too that this is the same guy who after the Scottish cup semi said "there is no gap" between Rangers and Celtic yet a few months down the line after bringing in what? Two or three players they're suddenly 'miles ahead'? In the video he just can't stop grinning. I'm guessing this grin has been wiped off his face now. The title of the video? 'Celtic v Manchester City was one of the best Champions League games ever – watch our top team hail clash" http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/celtic-v-manchester-city-one-8939347

The CL defeat in a way can make this match even more significant. They had thoroughly convinced themselves that a win over Gladbach was a foregone conclusion with the only question being by how many goals. They had convinced themselves that Rodgers was a wizard and that not only would they beat Gladbach in Glasgow they would probably beat them in Germany too. The actual outcome when they were not just beaten but totally outplayed by the Germans is a serious downer for them and if we can follow that up with another win over them on Sunday who knows. It could prove to be a key turning point that could put their heads down even further. It might possibly boil down to who has the most iffy defence on the day us or them. If it comes to who wants it most I think our guys could edge them. Might be a first start against them for Waghorn who replaced Miller on the 63rd minute in the last game and we were actually pressing after his introduction but then Senderos had a brainstorm and it all fell apart leaving us outnumbered and with no CB's

They have the second worst goals against tally of all 32 teams in the competition. They have conceded 12 goals while only Legia Warsaw have conceded more and just barely more on 13.

I had no idea who he was and had never heard the name before. I simply got sinnamon from part of the image address and googled it. training_sinnamon_garner

Ryan Sinnamon?

All things being equal you would have to think City will go to Germany and do what has to be done but I would agree it's no certainty. What's more of a certainty is that both of them now have an incentive to crush ra sellick by as many goals as possible while Barca don't have that requirement but will likely just do it by habit so to speak.

Ra sellick to lose 20 goals or more before the group is done? I say very credible. Lose at least another 2 in Germany? very possible. Lost at least 3 when Barca come to town? Very possible. Lost at least 4 when they go to City? Very possible which would make a total of 21 That's a Joey Barton bet in the making.

Don't see any first team names in there gaining fitness.

Wonder who Joey was betting on.

You would have to guess Warburton and Weir and in fact the entire team were watching this and taking notes.

They were group whipping boys in a Europa league group topped by Molde for crying out loud. Why anyone expected them to be anything but grooup whipping boys in this is beyond me.